Hell Bender || closed

Gwen nearly – nearly – lost the contents of her stomach on Jack when he took a step back, the sudden movement making the world spin in directiosn she did not want to contemplate.

Fortunately, she managed to get the muscles of her throat to work, and held out a hand while composed herself. “You must be Jack,” she said at last, eying him. Alright, so he was a bit handsome - or he would be, if he wasn’t looking like something had crawled up his arse and died.

And the Jack Harkness charm of legend was either severely overrated, or simply not present this morning.

“The puking isn’t exactly up to me,” she shot back. “Anyway, slow down. Tosh tells me you’ve basically been running around randomly. Are you searching systematically? Do you have any leads at all?”

–

John stayed silent while Clara and… the Doctor? Was this really the Doctor? argued. Standing very quietly, he eyed the exits and eased himself along the edge of the wall, trying to head towards the door.

“You’re using me as bait,” he said, glancing at the Doctor, and ignoring his little bit of banter. Was he trying to be friendly? Because it was achieving quite the opposite effect. “Well…” he drawled. “I’m afraid that I can’t really let you do that. Because, well. Reasons.”

His slow movement had brought him to the edge of the door, and he palmed it open, slipping out and took one step out– before colliding heavily into someone else. He tried to shove past and wasn’t sure what happened, but there was suddenly a foot right where his shin was, and he was practically falling arse over elbow onto the floor, his grand get away brought to a very sudden and premature end.

“Hello,” the newcomer said, bobbing into view. John took in the sight of bowtie and floppy fringe, frankly massive chin… then he met the other’s eyes. Something about them chilled him right to the bone, despite the friendly expression on the other’s face. “Sorry about that,” the stranger said, holding out a hand to him. “Are you alright?”

“Can’t say I haven’t been better,” John replied cautiously, trying to keep up the friendly pretense, at least for now. “In fact, I was just leaving, don’t mind me.” Grasping the stranger’s hand, he let the other pull him to his feet. “I’m John, by the way. Nice to meet you.”

“John! Good to meet you. I’m Will, Miss Bossy is Clara, and Eyebrows is the Doctor. So glad you could join us.” He clapped him on his shoulder, and John could have sworn that Will hadn’t been holding a thing, but he thought he felt a pinprick.

“Actually–” he started to say, but the world was tilting sharply, and turning odd colours. The floor seemed to list sharply, and he staggered, and it was only Will’s arm around him that kept him upright. What had he been saying? What had he been trying to do? He struggled to focus, thinking dimly that he saw Will exchange a look with Clara, but the bed - heck, the /floor/ was looking like an increasingly good option.

“Oh dear,” Will was saying, apparently from very far away. “I think he’s having a bit of a reaction to the sleep patch.”

A ‘bit’ of a reaction was a bit of an understatement. His limbs felt like lead. The Doctor had turned purple. The floor was the ceiling and the ceiling was the floor, and – the door. He needed to get to the door. He needed to get…

…his legs folded entirely, and he discovered that the floor was really rude and hard.

“And you must be Gwen.” He replied quickly, giving her a glance before looking everywhere else to see if he could possibly spot John.

He let out an irritable sigh before turning his full attention onto her. “I just lost my partner to unforseen circumstances. I know he’s alive but I don’t know if he’s been hurt or not. Of course I’ve been pretty erratic when it comes to looking for him!” He snapped, gritting his teeth and allowing himself to show just how on-edge he was being.

Seething, Jack steadied his breath and closed his eyes before holding up his hands in defeat. “I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m very worried about him and I don’t know who has him or how much time he has left.” He spoke more calmly as he opened his eyes and met her gaze. “Anything you can do to help, would be greatly appreciated.” He was close to begging, and fully aware just how vulnerable and desperate he was being.

—

The Doctor exhaled a sigh through his nose as John spoke. “Regrettable, but understandable.” He gave a nod and stood back, allowing John his freedom. He hadn’t actually intended to trap Jack, he simply wanted to talk to him, however… he could completely understand why John wouldn’t want to bring his partner here.

He turned to look at Clara and speak more with her, well aware that John was leaving only to be interrupted when the door swung back open and both Will and John came back inside.

He paused and raised both brows before frowning in concern when John began to stumble and fall. Rushing over to him, the Doctor caught his fall and slowly lowered him down as he turned to look up at Will.

“He was fine before he left the room. What’s happened?” Standing, the Doctor looked between both Clara and Will. “Do you realise what’s going to happen? That Jack Harkness is going to march in here now and do harm to us because he sees his partner is down!? And I thought Clara’s torture bit was bad enough…”

Hell Bender || closed

Toshiko winced sympathetically at the edge in Jack’s voice - she knew it wasn’t directed personally at her, and she knew how much John meant to Jack. It was rumoured that the two had a natural bond - or at least that Jack did - and she knew how she would feel if anything happened to Owen. Even if she wasn’t sure if Owen would feel the same way about her.

But nevermind that. Time to concentrate on the job at hand. Tapping another key on her console, she sent a word through to Gwen. “You can trust Gwen. She didn’t go through training with us, she was laterally hired from the Shadow Proclamation. Mostly she’s been spending time with Owen.”

Gwen Cooper was not having the best week of her life. 

Leaving the Shadow Proclamation for the Time Agency perhaps hadn’t been the best career move in her life, but she’d been furious with them, and maybe just a little drunk at the time. Plus, she’d just gotten embroiled in an Agency investigation, and it had been a bit of a – join us or we retcon you thing, so signing up seemed the logical thing to do.

Plus, the Shadow Proclamation did absolutely nothing. They seemed content to just sit on their hands all the time, while there was so much going on around… between the two, the Agency seemed to take a far more active role, and wasn’t full of bureaucratic idiots. 

At least that was what it looked like from the outside.

From the inside…

Her week had been filled with paperwork. They were trying to find her a partner, they said, but they didn’t have one right now. And she’d thought that ‘partner’ meant what it meant anywhere else in the galaxy, which was someone you worked with, but she’d investigated a little further and found out that was very much not what it meant.

So she’d thrown a fit. Flipped a table. Or two.

She would probably have ended up in a nice, comfy cell, or retconned until she thought she was a baby, if Toshiko hadn’t intervened. The incident had been covered up and brushed aside, with a bit of an unspoken understanding that they would take their time looking (not very hard) for a partner for her, and she would not flip tables. It was useful to have unpartnered agents sometimes, or so they said. Frankly, Gwen wasn’t entirely sure how much of it was utter horseshit.

Either way, she was bored out of her mind with the red tape and the training that all seemed to involve watching a lot of videos on physics and time. And when Toshiko’s call came through that she might have a mission - even if it wasn’t a proper mission - she jumped at it. 

“Captain Jack Harkness eh?” she said. “Sounds fancy.”

“Is a bit fancy,” Toshiko said with a small laugh. “Step onto the transmat, I’ll send you right to him.”

“I’m holding you to that, Tosh,” Gwen replied. “This place is dismal and really could do with some polish–”

She hadn’t been prepared for the gut wrenching lurch of the transmat. It felt like being tossed around a rollercoaster and bounced like a pinball through time and space, and when she finally dropped out of the vortex into the lobby of a hotel, she staggered and collided heavily with a man in a coat. 

“’Scuse me,” she mumbled, fighting off the nausea. “I might be sick–”

–

There was a strange twist as he snapped awake, gasping like a fish out of water. It was so disorienting - he hadn’t even realised that he was dreaming - that he just blinked stupidly at the newcomer and at Clara for a long moment. Different room. He was lying on a bed, and … Clara was still holding the knife.

He sat up, very slowly, with his back to the wall. 

“Dream state patch?” he asked, feeling the itch on the back of his neck where something had been pulled off recently. He stared at the newcomer, not quite trusting him, trying to will his heart into slowing down. 

“I’m fine,” he said, glancing between Clara and the Doctor. So she hadn’t truly intended to maim him? Or had she intended to use a dream state so that she could rinse and repeat and as often as she liked without actually killing him? His hands were shaking violently, and he balled them into fists to stop them. “Where… am I? And who are you?”

Jack was in a hurry and he really didn’t have time to wait for Toshiko to call in someone else to help him look for his missing partner. He hardly knew who this Gwen person was, and he wasn’t sure how good or useful she could be.

Heaving out an impatient sigh, he waited for a few moments before heading off in the direction he was facing to look for any sort of clue or possible lead. When he didn’t find anything, he decided to head back to the very spot he’d been waiting for Gwen to arrive in the first place.

Finally when she showed up, Jack reached out to steady her as she seemed unsteady from travelling. Once he was sure she was fine on her own feet, he brushed off his shoulder and coat before raising a brow at her.

“You must be Gwen Cooper.” He stated, continuing to eye her cautiously before giving her a once over. “Captain Jack Harkness, as you might have assume-” He paused and made a face at the mention of her possibly being sick. Taking a step or so back, he waited wearily to see if she’d lose the contents of her stomach or not before continuing on.

“Anyway, I don’t have much time to explain so I hope Toshiko filled you in a little bit. We’re looking for my partner and uh, well, you might be doing more of that fast travel with me. So, get used to the feeling and don’t puke on my coat.” He warned, making it clear he wasn’t kidding about any of it.

—

Clara hissed as the Doctor reprimanded her in front of John. Not only was she insulted that her leader wasn’t happy with her and taking her side, but he had to scold her in front of the prisoner.

She turned a sharp eye onto John and held her chin high before rolling her eyes at his remarks and questions.

“Doctor, we should have left him in the dream state. At least then he wouldn’t be able to figure out where he’s at, could have kept him guessing ‘til he was insane.” She snapped, glancing between the two.

—

“Yes, thank you Clara, but if I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it.” The Doctor snapped in return, glancing over his shoulder at her. He turned slowly to face John once more and to meet his eye.

“I’d say you’re safe, but that’s been ruined for you. You’re at the Resistance base, though. Not that that much matters to you. I think that’s information that’s more important for…Jack?”

He raised a brow as he continued to check the other man’s vitals. “And I’m the Doctor, yes, the one you’ve likely been told about. Scary, aren’t I?” He stepped back and gave a quick grin. “I’m… sorry about all of this. I’ll be feeding your partner information to get here soon. He can bring you back or go wherever you’d like to go.” He gave a shrug and pulled up a chair. “Do you have anymore questions for me?”

Hell Bender || closed

“They’ve taken a few jumps,” Toshiko said. “I think they know how to cover their trail … But I’ll feed what I have through to your VM. I’m sorry, Jack, but this is going to take some time.”

She continued typing. “And it might be dangerous, do you want back up? That new Agent who just joined… Gwen, I think her name is? She could go with you.”

–

“Jack’s looking for me,” John replied softly but with certainty. “He’s my partner.” His expression softened, thinking of how it must have felt to Clara to lose someone she’d apparently starting bonding to naturally. If Jack died.. If someone killed Jack, he wasn’t sure he would be sane.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated again. “I know it won’t bring him back, but … I regret it. And I wish there was something I could do.”

Her threat of locking him in the room was more effective than he would have thought, and he suspected that some of that fear leaked through into his expression. Lock him in here - what, until he starved or took his own life in desperation and guilt? It was slowly starting to sink in that there was a real possibility that he was going to die here, and he wanted to be brave, but that bravery was proving elusive. “Please, Clara, you don’t have to do this,” he said - realizing in that moment how Danny must have felt, how his pleas had fallen on deaf ears.

“It’s fine,” Jack snapped before taking a moment to process how he said it, “I’m sorry.” He finally said, this time much calmer. “I’ll keep looking around for clues or anything that can help while you’re working.”

“Only if she can be spared and trusted, I don’t want everyone knowing about this. Though, tell Owen just in case…” just in case John was injured or worse.

—

Clara shook her head, a sort of sadness washed over her as she looked John over. “He is.” She confirmed knowing all too well that the well-known Captain would be. “How lucky you both are to have each other.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness from her tone.

“And killing him won’t do it.” Another voice cut in before Clara could say anything and before she could turn around the illusion of the dream state was ripped from both her and John.

—

The Doctor stood staring at both of them, an anger within him that hadn’t come to life in a long time. “Clara, enough. It wasn’t his fault, he did what he had to, to survive. I’m sorry about Danny, but torturing him isn’t going to do anything but cause more pain.”

To say he was disappointed was an understatement. He walked over towards John and started to assess him. “She hasn’t done anything too serious, has she?”

Hell Bender || closed

“He disappeared?” Toshiko asked, immediately concerned. “Jack, I think it’s more likely that someone removed the tracker or hacked into it. I think…” she chewed on her lower lip a second before continuing, “I think he’s possibly been kidnapped.”

Running another scan, she shook her head. “I’m detecting another vortex manipulator jump in close proximity. I’m trying to trace it .. It’s not yours, is it? Whatever the case, I think he’s not on the planet any more.”

Another pause. “Would you like to come back to base? Assemble a team?”

–

John was admittedly terrified at this point. He’d faced down alien guns, battle zones, time gone absolutely mad, but this - this was different. This was personal, up close, and .. Everything that Danny had gone through, probably.

The guilt made him want to give in, but his own survival instincts were too strong. Managing to snag Clara’s wrist, he drove the blade into the wall and took advantage of the momentary distraction to bolt for the door. Which turned out to be firmly locked.

“Clara…” He said, whirling to face her. “He didn’t. I’m sorry, he didn’t deserve to die. But– He wouldn’t have wanted you to do this.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Toshiko.” Jack stated flatly, his patience wearing thin as he pushed past people and continued to look around for John. Grunting in response to her theory, Jack let out a frustrated sigh before running a hand through his hair.

“Wait-” he stopped dead on the sidewalk and held out his hand as if Toshiko could see him. “Do you think you can trace the other manipulator?” As he spoke he began to work on his own to see if he could do the same. “I might be able to follow it.”

At her suggestion to head back to base, Jack frowned. “I don’t have time for that. John doesn’t have time for that. Just... get a note to Leona for me.”

---

When John managed to get the blade from her and away, Clara pinched her features together as she watched him run past and try for the door. “I told you already, you’re not getting out of here.” She stood indignantly and crossed her arms across her chest.

Blinking a few times, she looked down and away from John. She knew he was right, but she still needed to get rid of the anger she was harbouring. “You wouldn’t know what Danny wanted or didn’t want.” She challenged, bringing her gaze back to meet his.

Taking a glance at the blade once more, Clara’s lips formed into a small smirk. “I think I should leave you alone. Just you, this room, and the blade. Maybe Danny didn’t want me to do it...” She began to pace, watching him carefully. “But that would be too easy. I should have been more prepared than this...” she tapped her chin. “Do you think Jack’s looking for you? Or has he run back to Mummy and given up? You wouldn’t be the first partner he’s lost. He’s probably used to it by now. Probably doesn’t care.”

Hell Bender || closed

“What’s wrong?” Toshiko asked, hearing the upset note in Jack’s voice. And a moment later: “Are you saying that John’s lost?” She glanced back at the sensors, double checking. “But the sensors say he’s right there with you!”

Typing furiously, she started to run diagnostics. “They must have hacked into our systems, done something to the tracker … Or removed it. What happened?”

–

John glanced at the knife, knowing exactly where this was going. Panic was definitely becoming overwhelming at this point. “I didn’t want to,” he blurted out. “I didn’t know what the mission was until I was in there and Jack was already – he didn’t have a choice too,” he said, because he couldn’t bear to push the blame to Jack. “It’s just – Danny was screaming and I thought if I could get him to just give us the information, if I could scare it out of him, we could stop and let him go…”

As an excuse, it sounded so flimsy, and the guilt that he’d only just started to move past reared its ugly ahead again. But when Clara placed the knife against his cheekbone, his survival instincts kicked in. He grabbed at her wrist, trying his level best to disarm her.

“He wasn’t in the lobby when I arrived, then when I started asking around people were telling me they saw him one moment and then not the next. It’s bizarre.” He trained his voice to be calm, even though he had hints of fear still laced through it. “What!?” He yelled, a bit too loud for the street he was on.

“Toshiko, read your sensors again.” He stated, much more calmly this time. “Because I’m sure they’ve been messed with too.”

This didn’t bode well for Jack and the longer he stayed motionless and felt unable to do anything, the more he felt desperate to want to tear the planet apart to find John. “Dammit.” He whispered at her words before speaking up. “Okay, I’ll keep you on the line, but I’m going to search for him on foot. You keep working your magic.”

—

For just a brief moment Clara hesitated. Everything she’d ever done in her life was against what she was doing now. And yet she couldn’t help but to want to. Logic was being tossed out the window for her, and the need for revenge was cultivating.

“So because he was screaming you thought to torture him more and to kill him!?” She accused, reaching forward with her free hand and balling the neck of his shirt into her fist. “And don’t give me that about Jack Harkness, the man was practically born to play the puppet of Leona. He knew what he was doing for Bell, and he knew what he was doing when he brought you into that room.”

When she brought the blade to his cheek, she had left her guard down, allowing John to reach forward and to fight for dominance over the weapon. In her struggle she slashed wildly, gritting her teeth and threatening to plunge the blade in rather than just slice him. “Danny didn’t deserve to die!” She yelled, though her voice was desperate and this time lacking the anger. “He didn’t!”

Hell Bender || closed

Toshiko had been on duty all night when the blip came in - and she nearly missed it. Fortunately, her sleep deprived brain managed to kick her into gear, which was when she decided to check out the very small disturbance on the sensors.

Half an hour later, she was putting a call through to Jack. 

“Jack, are you okay? There was something on the sensors,” she said without preamble. “John’s tracker blinked off - just for a tiny bit, and it’s back online now, but it seems like someone might have interfered with it.”

–

Alright, he told himself. Don’t panic.

The lady who stepped into the room was short and vaguely familiar. John mentally measured the distance between himself, her and the door, and thought that he stood a fair chance of disabling her and making a break for it, except that she’d locked the door right behind her. Alright…

He stood slowly, towering over her, trying to look unimpressed by her threats, while he mentally tried to figure out a plan. It was only when she mentioned Jack that he realised that she must have been from the Agency as well.

And that was when recognition kicked in. Hard.

Ok. Now panic.

The first thing he felt was absolute crushing guilt. He still had nightmares about Danny - it had been months since then, and he’d killed any number of people in the name of the Agency since then… but those had been clean deaths, on the battlefield, and he’d saved more lives than he’d taken. Or so he hoped. But Danny stood out as the one case that was simply… he had no justification. No excuses at all. 

“I’m sorry,” he said uselessly, even as fear flickered through him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t …” I didn’t want to wasn’t an excuse, and I had no choice certainly wasn’t either. He had a choice - and he’d chosen the coward’s way out, because he’d been too afraid of getting in trouble with his superiors. “Clara, please, let’s just talk about this…”

“Yeah-yeah,” Jack repeated himself while nodding, momentarily forgetting that Toshiko couldn’t actually see him. “I saw it too, I shouldn’t have stopped to check it out though.” He whispered the last sentence knowing all too well that Tosh could hear him.

Sighing, he shook his head and started to head out of the lobby. “What do you mean ‘interfered’ with it?” He stopped walking mid-step causing a random woman to run into him and give him an agitated look before brushing by.

“I gotta find him, Toshiko. I can’t lose him.”

---

Clara tilted her head as she watched him slowly realise who she was and why they were there. A tight-lipped smile appeared on her lips as her eyes narrowed onto his face. “Talk about it!?” She guffawed before shaking her head in disbelief.

For a moment her facade of remaining cool and collected had disappeared and the crazed rush of emotions that truly lurked beneath had appeared. “Like you talked about it with Danny?” In a quick instant she pulled out a blade and held it up.

“Because we can certainly talk about it.” Getting closer to him, she met his gaze head on. “How dare you. What gave you the right to kill him? He hadn’t done anything to you, he was innocent. Got wrapped up in all of this on accident, all because he loved me.” Her eyes searched his for a desperate plea, wishing he could replace Danny and that the man she’d come to love was before her instead.

“Did you even care? Did you enjoy it? What did you think you had to gain from it?” She spat at him before reaching up with the blade and tracing the sharpened side along his cheekbone. “You won’t die John, not yet. I want you to feel it. Like Danny did.”

Hell Bender || closed

No one expected the Spanish Inquisition, or so the old Earth saying went. And clearly, no one expected the defecting inquisition either.

They’d just come off a mission, him and Jack, and had literally just had time to wash the alien guts off themselves and grab a nap. He’d been waiting in the lobby of their hotel for Jack to turn up so that they could head out for a bite, when trouble, in the form of a patch to the neck, struck.

It was subtle and elegant, he remembered thinking, before he blacked out completely.

–

When he awoke, it was to a small, bare and windowless room, a single locked door (that refused to yield) and very little in the form of room service. It didn’t even look like a proper holding cell, more like a small storeroom that someone had converted quickly.

Unfortunately, they’d also cleaned out his pockets and taken his suit jacket and tie - really, that was quite offensive - which left him very little option except to wait.

And hope that Jack wasn’t tearing time and space apart too badly in his search for him. @headoftorchwood

Jack spent a bit longer than John when it came to washing the alien guts off of himself. They were gross and sticky and he absolutely had to make sure that later he’d need to either get his clothes extremely cleaned, or toss them altogether.

After he’d gotten clean and presentable, Jack was just getting ready to head down to the main lobby when he was distracted by a strange malfunction to his manipulator. Raising a brow, he stopped to look at it when suddenly it had cleared up. Odd …

Once he reached the main floor, he started to look around for his partner. He waited for a few moments before he began to get worried. “Okay… he’d definitely contact me by now.” He sighed and turned to start asking those around him.

When others started to explain they’d seen John but he’d just disappeared, Jack started to panic. Running about, he called his partners name, but only to receive the glances and glares from the people in the lobby.

—

Clara cleared her throat as she stepped into the small cell. It wouldn’t have been the first place she would have thought of to make with the dream patches, but it certainly would do. Raising a brow, she trained her expression to one of neutrality as she kept her hardened stare onto John.

This man was the one who killed Danny…

It didn’t matter to her whether or not John was frightened or confused. She was determined to make him suffer much in the same way he’d made Danny. “Try as you might, you’re not going anywhere. I’ve made sure of that.” She stated, taking a step closer to him.

“Do you know who I am? Because if you do, then you’ll know why you’re here and what exactly I’m going to do to you.” Her anger laced her words as she stared him down. “And forget about Jack, your precious Captain won’t be able to save you this time. Though hopefully he feels every bit of pain that I do, once I’m finished with you.”

Her glow turned into a pink glow and she pressed her hands against her cheeks, it was her version of blushing. 

She sat down in his hand, glow turning back to blue again happily, coking her head at him with a curious little chirp. The tiny fae gently tugged on her dress to show him, that this was her favorite color.

Jack grinned lightly at her, watching her blush was cute. He liked this little fairy, especially since she was a far cry from the other types of fairies he was accustomed to.

Eyes flickering to where she was tugging, he raised a brow at her and then nodded slowly. “Love the colour, it looks great on you. Goes well with your pale skin.” He studied her a bit more, taking in her delicate features. Her hair was black that almost shone blue and her eyes were almost a gold.

“Since I can’t always whistle, how would you like me to give you a nickname? It might be easier for me-that is if you want to be friends?”

Jack frowned heavily at the girl. She’d obviously been in quite a scuffle and judging by how she was reacting to him, she seemed to have gotten out of it just fine. Still, the Captain wanted to know who was responsible for this. “It kinda does, yes.” His eyes levelled with hers before he took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Wasting your time, is it? And here I thought being in a time period that’s not your own was wasting everyone’s time.” He retorted, not quite ready to give her the actual reason why he stopped her yet.

“Red Bull… beer… all the same to me.” Jack trailed on before turning to give the younger woman a flashy smile. “Thanks for the offer but I’m more of a vodka type of guy.” Waving his hand to show he was passing on the opportunity, the Captain continued to snoop around her room and check through her cabinets and drawers.

“Y'know, if you want-I can get you into a better room and hotel?” He raised a brow before moving to finally perch himself at the end of her bed. “At least then you might be able to sleep a little more comfortably.” Giving her a nod, he neatly folded his hands into his lap and quietly observed her. Soon, however, Jack grew bored and quickly cleared his throat. “You still haven’t asked me why I’m here. So, are you going to Emma? Or do you want me to start asking you questions?” The immortal gave a small shrug. “Up to you.”

The Partner Swap | closed

“Always been?” John said, before realising that it was probably a good idea to keep his voice down. For a moment, he thought that it was perhaps something that Jack just hadn’t told him, but seen him die a million times?

He was utterly confused at this point. While it was possible that Jack was a clone or a twin of some sort, why was he acting like he recognised him? And what did Rose have to do with anything? 

“I’ve never seen you die before,” he said at last, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position. He couldn’t do much more than that - when he tried to get a leg under himself to stand, he toppled over completely. “So you’ll forgive me if I’m just a bit …” he moderated his tone. “Not that I’m unhappy about it, I mean. It’s just that you could have told me earlier.”

Leaning back against the cave wall, he winced a bit as his back protested where he’d been jabbed? stung? “I don’t know. I’ve been out for a bit. But we need to get out of here. Then… you can tell me everything.” Self-consciously, he wiped at the moisture remaining on his face, trying to erase the signs that he’d been upset. 

"Yes.... always been..." Jack stared at his partner in confusion. Why did he all of a sudden seem to not really recognise him? If Jack hadn't known any better he'd almost say this was an entirely different John.

But even with that possibility in mind the Captain couldn't help but lean more towards the idea that John's memory had been wiped. Which in most cases would be worse. "Okay," he started, raising up a hand to try and calm his husband down. "We need to be quiet if we're going to get out of here alive."

He was definitely far more hysterical than Jack was used to him being, but he was just going to chalk that up to a memory thing.

Except for the next thing that came out of John's mouth.

"What?" Now Jack was utterly confused. Of course John had seen him die before. He'd practically been there for every single one. The Captain was now absolutely convinced that something was terribly wrong.

"Uh... right." Was all that Jack could spare for the moment. "Listen, we'll talk more about this later, alright?" It was a promise he was willing to make. Especially since the future conversation would hopefully spring back some memories.

Kneeling down in front of his husband, Jack extended his hand and smiled gently at him. "Let me take a look at it." It wasn't a question, but an order. One he stated in a softened tone. "I might be able to do something for you at least until we can get back to the ship, okay?"     

Younger and Prettier | closed

@headoftorchwood

When he came back to life with a gasp, Jack thought that the vwooshing sound that he was hearing was the TARDIS leaving.

And he might have been right, because when he staggered out to the room where the TARDIS had been, the familiar blue box was gone. However, there was something parked just a little bit further down - a really tiny little red rocket about the size of the TARDIS … And she was singing at him.

Staggering over to the ship, his limbs and brain still not quite wanting to work after being shot by a Dalek (how? Why? What even was going on? There were a million questions in his brain, but he was dead – ha. ha. – certain that there was one person who had the answers).

There was a door in the side of the rocket. He climbed up the steps to it and raised his hand to knock when he couldn’t find any handle or release mechanism, when the door swooshed open of its own accord and he ended up knocking a skinny man in blue in the face.

“Oh shit, are you ok?” he asked, as the man stumbled back. Following him automatically into the ship, he paused as he came face to face with … himself.

“Well,” he said, smiling and planting his hands on his hips. “This is a pleasant surprise. Looking good there, captain.”

–

“We should definitely not be here,” the Doctor said, glancing at the console and trying to keep it from Jack. “But the TARDIR wants to show me something, so I’ll nip out really quickly and check. Just stay put. Really, I mean it this time. /Stay put./”

So saying, he rushed over to the door, opening it – just in time to get smacked in the face.

The feeling of being hit by /another/ fixed point was worse than the physical smack, which really hadn’t been that hard. Staggering back, he missed the opportunity to shove the younger Jack out of the TARDIR, and the next instant, there were two Jack aboard the ship.

He groaned. The TARDIR beeped happily.

Jack was just finally starting to relax when the TARDIR decided that she was going to take them for a ride. Not really knowing where, he trusted her judgement and relaxed back into the seat she had provided for him in the console room.

However, when John started to speak up as they landed, the Captain perked up and sat a little on the edge of his seat. "What do you mean we shouldn't be here?" Furrowing his brows, he moved to a stand and tried to peak over his husbands shoulders. 

"What's going on?" Immediately he moved into a defensive position and stood back to allow John the room he needed to check out why the ship had decided to land there. Of course Jack was going to listen to him when he told him to stay put, but he never said anything about not looking at the monitor to see where they were at.

Of course when he actually saw where they were, his heart immediately sank towards his stomach.

"Doc!" He yelled out, moving to grab his gun only to pause when he came across his husband with what seemed like to be a physical recoil and...

Another version of himself. A younger, freshly immortal version of himself.

Sterling himself, Jack holstered his weapon and placed a hand on John's shoulder to gently pull him back and behind himself. "Jack..." He started, a warning tone in his voice. "Listen to me, whatever you're thinking; this man, this Doctor is not the Doctor you're seeking out. Now, kindly step back and allow Doc some space. He's not used to how... fresh you are."

With a moment's pause, Jack tilted his head to the side in thought as well as observation. "And quite frankly, neither am I."     

Thieves of Yesterday

@smithjanesarah·

"Violence is necessary if someone storms into a highly classified place of work and seemingly demands to take over!" Jack hissed, trying his best to keep his calm under pressure. "Youre not exactly helping your case either, you know." He pointed out, becoming increasingly frustrated with her presence.

He snorted at her remark about him being afraid of her. "As if," he interjected sarcastically. Sighing, Jack hung his head before shaking it. "Listen lady, I'ma Hell of a lot older than I look, I'm not some spring chicken nor am I as dumb as I appear." He took a step towards her and raised a brow. "These good looks are more than just pretty, okay?"

"Torchwood. Field Agent and second-in-command. Which is more than I should be telling you."

In truth, Jack should have escorted her out at the very beginning; let alone allow her to wander about and make conversation. "So what do you think your job is?"

If she wasn't impressed by him, then he. Certainly wasn't impressed by her. Still, there was something about her, something familiar that kept him wanting to continue speaking with her. Crossing his arms over his chest, Jack raised a brow and waited for a response.   

Difficult Questions for Muses

(Please remember to use trigger warnings as and when necessary)